“Northerners, through their democratically elected government, need to have the power to determine their own fates and the practice of decisions being made by bureaucrats and governments in Ottawa must come to an end,” said Bob McLeod, the premier of Canada’s Northwest Territories, pictured here in 2015. (Bill Braden/The Canadian Press)

Canada’s decision to halt offshore oil and gas exploration in the Arctic is akin to the re-emergence of colonialism, says the premier of Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) as he called for “an urgent national debate on the future of the Northwest Territories,” in a blistering news statement released on Wednesday.

“The promise of the North is fading and the dreams of northerners are dying as we see a re-emergence of colonialism,” Bob McLeod said.

“For too long now policies have been imposed on us from Ottawa and southern Canada that, despite good intentions sometimes, and ignorance other times, are threatening our economic potential and the decades-long work that we as a government have taken on Indigenous reconciliation. Whether it be ill-conceived ways of funding social programs, or new and perplexing restrictions on our economic development, our spirit and energy are being sapped.”

Resource development & the environment: Who decides?

Watching a community hockey game in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories. Do northerners have enough say in federal decisions affecting their regions? (Eilís Quinn/Eye on the Arctic)

Last winter, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a moratorium on offshore oil and gas development in the Arctic, saying it was too risky for the environment. The federal government said the decision would be reviewed after five years.

The decision was heralded by environmental groups and seen by many as an important step for Canada.

However, in Canada’s North, where education and employment opportunities are scarce, especially in isolated Indigenous communities, northern leaders pushed backsaying the decision would put the breaks on much-needed economic development.

In his statement on Wednesday, McLeod called the moratorium an attack on the territory’s economic development that would have ongoing repercussions.

“Restrictions imposed on our vital energy and resource sector – 40 percent of our economy and source of middle class jobs and incomes for many of our people – are driving companies away, and with that go the jobs that sustain healthy families and community life. Staying in or trying to join the middle class will become a distant dream for many.”

Reconciliation in the North

View of Great Bear Lake from Deline, Northwest Territories. The community became Canada’s first Aboriginal public community government in 2016. Changes to service funding for First Nations communities could be detrimental in the North says NWT Premier Bob McLeod. (Eilís Quinn/Eye on the Arctic)

The Trudeau government has made reconciliation with Canada’s Indigenous People’s one of its hallmark policy initiatives.

The population of the Northwest Territories is approximately 50 per cent Indigenous and the majority of the territory’s representatives in the Legislative Assembly are from Indigenous communities.

The vast majority of NWT’s First Nations population also lives off-reserve, often in communities where the territorial government provides services to everyone: Indigenous and non-Indigenous.

But on Wednesday, McLeod said that some of the current federal discussions, including those around financing changes for certain services to First Nations, were another example of imposing southern solutions on the North.

“New funding approaches that distinguish between peoples may help to improve outcomes on reserve in southern Canada, but could divide Northern communities, threatening the services and programs all NWT residents have come to expect and enjoy.

“Policy makers need to understand that what works in the South doesn’t always work in the North before they make decisions that could stretch the social fabric of our communities thin.”

Keeping the heat up on Ottawa

McLeod’s statement comes just over two weeks after lambasting Ottawa with similar remarks in Reykjavik, Iceland at the Arctic Circle Assembly, an annual event held in Iceland to foster international dialogue about the North.

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is a journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project.

Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.

Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the violent death of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on violence and trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.

Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.

Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."